


Dust to Dust

by Clea2011



Category: Primeval
Genre: Asphyxiation, Buried Alive, Fix-It, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-07
Updated: 2014-11-07
Packaged: 2018-02-24 12:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2581031
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clea2011/pseuds/Clea2011
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The worst thing about it all was that he’d known, they’d all known. Known, and not done enough tests on the bones to realise. Wouldn’t a simple DNA test have done the trick?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dust to Dust

**Author's Note:**

  * For [goldarrow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldarrow/gifts).



> Happy birthday to the lovely Goldarrow! Hope you like this. You'll need to let me know when you have an A03 account so that I can gift it!
> 
> Also this fills my hc bingo square 'asphyxiation' and my Primeval denial bingo square 'oaths/Promises'  
> Thanks to Fififolle for the beta.

The worst thing about it all was that he’d known, they’d all known. Known, and not done enough tests on the bones to realise. Wouldn’t a simple DNA test have done the trick?

Cutter was clever, but he was completely hung up on finding his wife. The bones they’d found were male, and once that had been established there was minimal interest in whose they actually were.

Ryan continued to dig through the earth above him. It couldn’t be far, Cutter was just a scientist for God’s sake. He wasn’t going to have dug a deep grave for them.

Ryan tried not to think about what he was lying on, on the bodies beneath him that had been thrown in so haphazardly that they had left small air pockets. Enough air that he was still alive. He had no idea how long he had been down there, how long since Cutter had left him for dead.

Dirt kept falling in his face as he scrabbled to free himself. It fell on his neck, his shoulders, in his mouth and eyes. Buried alive, that was the worst, most terrifying thing. He could suffocate down there, horror stories flitted through his mind and he had to fight back against the rising panic. If he panicked now he would be lost. He kept digging, quickly, methodically, trying to think of something else.

_Think of Stephen. Think how he’ll feel if you don’t get back to him. Think of the promises you’ve made each other, think of the future. Think of his eyes in the candlelight in the evening, of his face in the morning when the sunlight filters through the curtains._

It was working, it was a distraction. The dirt kept falling, he coughed and coughed again. He was starting to feel lightheaded.

_You have to get back to Stephen, you swore an oath. It was when you were both drunk but that doesn’t matter, you have to keep going. Breathe. Dig. Nearly there, it was just a scientist that dug this, and you know it wasn’t far down because you uncover the bones… no, don’t think of that. Think of Stephen. Think of Stephen…_

Ryan broke through to the surface and took huge, gulping breaths of the welcome air. He’d done it. But he wasn’t home yet.

Cutter was nowhere in sight as Ryan pulled himself clear of the grave. He checked the bodies, double-checked them, making absolutely sure he wasn’t leaving anyone behind. But they were gone, cold, having given him that last final service. Slowly, painfully, he dragged himself to his feet, and started to walk.

The anomaly was flickering as he staggered towards it, and he knew there was no chance of reaching it in time, not with his leg half torn to pieces. Sure enough, it closed before he’d covered half the distance. But there was another, further on, still open and solid. It didn’t have footprints leading to it, it wasn’t where Cutter had gone. But there were marks leading away from it, lot of them. Something had come through, and judging by how fresh they were, it hadn’t been all that long ago.

As he got closer, he could see it was boot prints, ones not at all different from his own. Grimly, he kept going, trying to ignore the pain. Boots meant civilisation, and that had to be a better chance than he had out there.

Behind him, far away, he could hear the distant roar of a dinosaur. If it caught his scent it would be on him before he even knew it. But surely it couldn’t be his time, not after he’d escaped death once that day? That would be too cruel.

The pain in his side was growing worse, and he could feel that the wound had opened up with the exertion. If there wasn’t help on the other side he was done for. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through.

And there was Stephen, running towards him, Claudia and Abby at his heels. Claudia was already shouting for a medic.

“Ryan!” Stephen caught him before he went down. “What happened? God, you’re a mess!”

“Nice to see you too,” Ryan muttered, but he could see the concern in his lover’s eyes. The field medic was behind him, shouting into his phone for someone to bring a stretcher and hurry up about it. He closed his eyes, giving himself over into their care, feeling Stephen’s hand in his. He’d made it home.

“Where’s Cutter?” Claudia asked. Her voice was on the verge of panic. “Was he hurt too? Where is he?”

And that, Ryan realised much, much later, was a question to which they might never find an answer.


End file.
